Fox News Hosts Embrace Immigrants Now That The GOP Needs Them

In the wake of the Mitt Romney's loss in the 2012 presidential election, Fox News personalities are urging the Republican Party to reach out to Latinos and immigrants. But these same figures have spewed anti-immigrant rhetoric for years.

News Corp. Chairman Murdoch Urged GOP To "Embrace Hispanics"

Rupert Murdoch: "Republicans Have To Ignore 5 Per Cent Nativists And Embrace Hispanics." In a November 8 post to his Twitter account, Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and CEO of News Corp., Fox News' parent company, encouraged Republicans to ignore "5 per cent nativists" and embrace Hispanics as well as the "best Asian and European graduates."

After Years Of Demonizing Immigrants, Fox News Figures Flip Flop On Immigration

SEAN HANNITY

Sean Hannity "Evolved" On Immigration After Romney Loss, Endorsed "Pathway To Citizenship." Host Sean Hannity said on his November 8 radio show that he has "evolved" on immigration and endorsed a "pathway to citizenship":

HANNITY: We've got to get rid of the immigration issue altogether, it's simple for me to fix it. I think you control the border first, you create a pathway for those people that are here. You don't say "You've got to go home." And that is a position that I've evolved on. Because, you know what, it just -- it's gotta be resolved.

The majority of people here -- if some people have criminal records, you can send them home. But if people are here, law-abiding, participating for years, their kids are born here, you know, it's first secure the border, pathway to citizenship, done. Whatever little penalties you want to put in there if you want, but then it's done. But you can't let the problem continue. It's gotta stop. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Sean Hannity Show, 11/8/12]

Hannity: The DREAM Act Is "Basically Amnesty." Hannity attacked the DREAM Act, federal legislation that provides a path to citizenship for young immigrants who meet certain requirements, likening it to "amnesty" on his Fox News show in December 2010. [Fox News, Hannity, 12/8/10, via Media Matters]

REPORT: Hannity Led The Anti-Immigrant Charge on Fox. From April 2010 through June 11, Media Matters found that Sean Hannity hosted 112 guests to discuss immigration, of which 83 (or 74 percent) were classified as anti-immigrant. [REPORT: In Immigration Coverage, Fox Shuns Pro-Immigrant Voices, 10/27/11, via Media Matters]

LAURA INGRAHAM

Laura Ingraham After Romney Loss: "The Language Of Dealing With Latinos Has To Be Changed." On the November 7 edition of Fox News' America Live, Fox contributor Laura Ingraham told host Megyn Kelly that "the language of dealing with Latinos has to be changed" in a discussion about how the GOP needs to "move to the center" on issues like immigration. [Fox News, America Live, 11/7/12, via Media Matters]

But Ingraham Decried "Amnesty" And Smeared Immigrants With False Claims

Ingraham: 12 Or 13 People Are "Killed Under DUIs By Illegals" Per Day. On the June 6 edition of The O'Reilly Factor, guest host Laura Ingraham claimed that 12 or 13 people a day are "killed under DUIs by illegals":

INGRAHAM: A lot of these people just say, you know, look, my kids' school has crowded classrooms. Our health care costs are still ballooning. We just had this case just a few months ago in Chicago -- this guy wasn't deported. He ended up running over a 66-year-old insurance salesman -- 66-year-old man dead because this illegal immigrant was not reported to ICE, and he was never deported. We have people killed all over this country. Girls raped, little baby girls raped in Escondido, horrible story over the last six months. What do you say to those families?

ROCHA: I say to those families that you are talking about just a small portion of the immigrants who are here.

INGRAHAM: Doesn't feel small to the mother whose daughter was raped by an illegal immigrant, does it?

ROCHA: That's right. That person should be deported and should be dealt with by every extent of the law.

[...]

ROCHA: Let's be clear that we have 12 million immigrants that are in this nation. There's going to be a small portion of that just like a small portion who are here legally, who were born here -

INGRAHAM: Right, but the point is, they were born here. And crime is crime. But when people weren't supposed to be here in the first place, that crime would have never been committed. Isn't that the case?

ROCHA: That is the case to a certain extent.

INGRAHAM: No. To a -- that is the case. Is it not?

ROCHA: No, no. No, it's not the case. We have a broken system.

INGRAHAM: So the people -- the 13 or 12 people a day who are killed under DUIs by illegals -- those people would be alive if our immigration laws were enforced. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 6/25/12, via Media Matters]

Ingraham Questioned George W. Bush For Promoting "A Mass Amnesty For Illegal Immigrants." As a guest host on The O'Reilly Factor on February 3, 2011, Ingraham devoted a segment to the divide between George W. Bush and the Tea Party on the issue of undocumented immigration, asking "why did he recently attack a key priority for many Tea Partiers? Namely, getting our borders under control and preventing a mass amnesty for illegal immigrants." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 2/3/11, via Media Matters]

BILL O'REILLY

Bill O'Reilly After Romney Loss: The Republican Party Needs To Figure Out What Message Will Be "Accepted By Black And Latino Voters." On Geraldo Rivera's November 7 radio show, Fox host Bill O'Reilly shared his suggestions for how the GOP should court black and Latino voters:

O'REILLY: The Republican Party has to figure out what message in their philosophy is going to be accepted by black and Latino voters. They have to get a message to them. And they haven't done it. [Cumulus Media Network, Geraldo, 11/7/12, via Media Matters]

But O'Reilly Has Repeatedly Smeared Immigrants

O'Reilly: "The Constitution Is Being Misused" By The Parents Of "Anchor Babies." On The O'Reilly Factor in January 2011, O'Reilly attacked birthright citizenship, stating:

O'REILLY: Then there are the anchor babies born to illegal aliens on American soil. Under the 14th Amendment they automatically become citizens. Think about it: Do you think the country wanted that when it ratified the 14th Amendment in 1868? Of course not. That amendment was designed to make sure that free[d] slaves got citizenship. Now it's used to encourage foreigners to sneak across our borders to give birth. Thus the Constitution is being misused. [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 1/6/11, via Media Matters]

O'Reilly: The "Intrusion Of The Illegal Alien Problem" Is To Blame For California's Budget Issues. On The O'Reilly Factor in November 2011, O'Reilly scapegoated undocumented immigrants during a discussion of California's budget shortfall, asking guest Stephen Moore about the "intrusion of the illegal alien problem" because it cost Los Angeles "an enormous amount of money." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 11/18/11, via Media Matters]

O'Reilly: "More Prisons" Needed To Curtail Undocumented Immigration. On The O'Reilly Factor in November 2011, In response to a viewer email regarding the appropriate prison sentence for immigrants who return after being deported, O'Reilly stated, "It would be far less expensive for the feds to build more prisons than to continue funding the current chaos." [Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, 11/16/11, via Media Matters]

For more on Fox News' history of immigrant attacks, click here and here.

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